“Because I’m a woman you are going to take this away from me?” she said to the tournament referee Brian Earley. “That is not right.”

In the post-match news conference, Serena Williams doubled down on her claim there is a double standard when it comes to punishment.

“I have seen other men call other umpires several things. I am here fighting for women’s right and women’s equality …. and for me to say ‘thief’ and for him to take a game it made me feel like it was sexist,” she said.

“He’s never took a game from a man because they said thief. For me, it blows my mind.”

She also smashed her racquet and threatened to make sure that the Portuguese umpire never worked another match of hers again in the second set of a 6-2, 6-4 loss to Osaka.

“You will never, ever, ever be on another court of mine as long as you live,” she said during the on court outburst. “You are the liar. When are you going to give me my apology?”

Serena Williams’ first code violation in the Osaka match was for coaching which women have received 152 fines compared to 87 for men during the 20 years.

One factor in the disparity in the data is that men play best-of-five set matches in Grand Slam events while women play best-of-three.

2009 meltdown

This was not the first time Serena Williams has had a meltdown at the US Open. In 2009, she refused to apologize after threatening to shove a ball down a lineswoman’s throat in an expletive-laden outburst.

Earlier this year at the Indian Wells tournament, Serena berated a female reporter in the players’ lounge area for asking a question at a news conference about therapeutic use exemptions.

One Australian commentator took issue with Serena Williams’s claim she is fighting for women’s rights.

“She is doing a terrible disservice to women’s rights, to the #metoo movement, to gender equality,” Caroline Wilson of the Australian Broadcasting Corp. said. “To say she’s fighting for women’s rights, when what she is, is a bad sport.”